Fight the Good Fight in All Walls Must Fall

[Encaen]

Fight the Good Fight in All Walls Must Fall

After 150 years of cold war, All Walls Must Fall has you tinkering with time to fell the wall and end the cold war.

Indie studio inbetweengames was founded by former Yager developers after the cancellation of their ongoing project, Dead Island 2 last summer. The team announced today the studio's first major project, All Walls Must Fall, a combat tactics game set in Berlin in an alternate future where the cold war never ended. Details are still somewhat scarce, but the info we do have offers a few hints as to what we can expect.



The tactical combat is done in pausable real time, with "actions on the beat of the music," which sounds a lot like Crypt of the Necrodancer, though I'm not sure how that might play out in this particular instance. The reference to "mind bending time manipulation abilities" certainly offers a lot of potential for dynamic combat. It may be a simple "rewind" feature, which we've seen before, but the devs certainly have the sort of chops to get away with something a bit more distinct.

The game's premise alone is enough to guess that the developers have something to say, and the announcement certainly supports that. The announcement describes it as a "parable that reflects on free will, moral ambiguity and the meaning of freedom," featuring "inclusive representation of the people of Berlin including their diverse cultural, sexual and gender identities."

As sure as it is that some folks will take issue with a game pushing a social, moral, political message, All Walls Must Fall isn't a response to public pressure, rather All Walls Must Fall is the creative work the developers envisioned but couldn't make under AAA restrictions.

The game's message may be a bit heavy handed, but AAA devs going indie so they can stay true to their own vision is always great to see.

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[Ukomba]

I'd put money on "someone" trying to start a firestorm of controversy over it. Historically, trolling yourself not only allows for virtue signalling publicity, but large monetary gains.

 

[flying_whimsy]

I'd put money on "someone" trying to start a firestorm of controversy over it. Historically, trolling yourself not only allows for virtue signalling publicity, but large monetary gains.

Either that or they'll put out another absolutely amazing trailer that will leave us completely and utterly disappointed when the game actually comes out. I kind of have a hard time seeing these guys pull off anything with a story, but especially something as complex as what they're aiming for.

But hey, that's some sexy concept art. Call me when they have something of real substance to show off and I might be excited again. What? No, of course I didn't feel super burned and disappointed by the first dead island. Don't be silly.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

I'd put money on "someone" trying to start a firestorm of controversy over it. Historically, trolling yourself not only allows for virtue signalling publicity, but large monetary gains.

Either that or they'll put out another absolutely amazing trailer that will leave us completely and utterly disappointed when the game actually comes out. I kind of have a hard time seeing these guys pull off anything with a story, but especially something as complex as what they're aiming for.

But hey, that's some sexy concept art. Call me when they have something of real substance to show off and I might be excited again. What? No, of course I didn't feel super burned and disappointed by the first dead island. Don't be silly.

You do know these guys had nothing to do with the first Dead Island right?
Dead Island was made by Techland. These are the same guys that made Spec Ops The Line.

OT:
This sounds interesting. I'll be looking forward to this.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Oh god these are the people who made Spec-Ops: The Line, which had a really hard hitting message about black-ops and the moral fiber of special forces. That means the narrative bar for this game is set pretty damn high, especially with what they've already said about the development. Due to this sentiment, there is a good possibility that this game will go one of two ways, it'll be a fantastic and heart rending story, or it'll be a massive horrific disappointment.

They talk about having characters being representative of diversity in terms of culture, sexuality, and gender identity. Them having said that, I'll be disappointed if none of the playable characters are the likes of Czech, German, Polish, or etc nationalities who may have gotten stranded in Berlin over time. On that note I'll also be very disappointed if none of the playable characters are trans, gay, or other variant sexualities, or/and gender identities. That's not saying that I want there to be no straight cisgender characters, but one is hardly being actually inclusive when GSM/LGBTQ+ characters are only minor NPCs... Which Siege of Dragonspear proved. At the minimum that means having deep characters who aren't the stock typical straight cisgender, usually white, hero types, even if those characters are restricted to being just major NPCs, or companion characters... Still I hope they have the balls to make a playable character trans, because I'm not aware of any game having done that.

The issue though with a concept like this one... There are a certain segment of gamers who are gonna scream bloody murder about """"""SJWs"""""" who are """"""ruining video games!!!""""""... Simply because the developers are trying to be inclusive... Which is a shame.

Edit: On a side note, this game looks like an isometric affair, hopefully that means they're making it turn based. Now if they really want to set the bar high, they can make it both about tactical combat, while also making it a like a traditional CRPG. That would be awesome, especially considering the depth of many later gen isometric CRPGs like Fallout, Fallout 2 and their contemporaries... I'll be disappointed if this game doesn't have lots of depth, character choices, and results for one's actions. If Fallout 2 and Deus Ex could be as deep as they were in the late 1990's/early 2000's, then this game using a similar tech level for it's style should blow it's ancestors out of the water.

 

[Bobular]

Sounds good, I'm always up for a tactics game.

Fight the Good Fight in All Walls Must Fall
The game's premise alone is enough to guess that the developers have something to say, and the announcement certainly supports that. The announcement describes it as a "parable that reflects on free will, moral ambiguity and the meaning of freedom," featuring "inclusive representation of the people of Berlin including their diverse cultural, sexual and gender identities."

As sure as it is that some folks will take issue with a game pushing a social, moral, political message, All Walls Must Fall isn't a response to public pressure, rather All Walls Must Fall is the creative work the developers envisioned but couldn't make under AAA restrictions.

The game's message may be a bit heavy handed, but AAA devs going indie so they can stay true to their own vision is always great to see.

At first I didn't like the fact they started going on about diversity as I don't think its important to most games to be something to talk about, just be upset if it is intentionally absent, but reading more this seems to be a game where that may be a core part of the story rather then just tacked on so I think its appropriate in this case. I think it'll be good to see what the devs behind Spec-Ops can do with this.

 

[flying_whimsy]

You do know these guys had nothing to do with the first Dead Island right?
Dead Island was made by Techland. These are the same guys that made Spec Ops The Line.

OT:
This sounds interesting. I'll be looking forward to this.

I did not know that. Well, if that's the case, if it turns out even half as good as spec ops then it'll be worth playing. I just hope this time I don't have to quit halfway through because committing all of those war crimes made me physically ill.

I'm still not going to jump to much on the hype train until they have something more substantial to show us, but at least now it sounds like the premise has some potential since it won't be in the hands of complete morons.

 

[Gatlank]

I rather play "This War of Mine". This game reeks of controversy for free publicity.
Games like this fall on two (extreme) categories, either they're really good or are so bad they need the controversy to garner some sales.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I rather play "This War of Mine". This game reeks of controversy for free publicity.
Games like this fall on two (extreme) categories, either they're really good or are so bad they need the controversy to garner some sales.

Two things.
1) Being inclusive and diverse isn't automatically controversial, except to people who are vehemently against inclusion and diversity.

2) The game isn't even out yet, so making a judgment on it's quality when it's in such early stages of development sounds more like stating one's political position, than as any measure of quality on the game's or developer's part.

Also keep in mind that these are people who helped make Spec-Ops: The Line, which from a narrative standpoint would make a movie that could sweep awards for best film... As a video game that sort of narrative is a shining gem in a pile of gun-metal colored b-movie grade at best story tripe.

 

[Gatlank]

I rather play "This War of Mine". This game reeks of controversy for free publicity.
Games like this fall on two (extreme) categories, either they're really good or are so bad they need the controversy to garner some sales.

Two things.
1) Being inclusive and diverse isn't automatically controversial, except to people who are vehemently against inclusion and diversity.

I wasn't pointing to the fact that the game being inclusive and diverse was controversial, but their announcement bringing especial attention to it seems to be counting on it.

2) The game isn't even out yet, so making a judgment on it's quality when it's in such early stages of development sounds more like stating one's political position, than as any measure of quality on the game's or developer's part.

Also keep in mind that these are people who helped make Spec-Ops: The Line, which from a narrative standpoint would make a movie that could sweep awards for best film... As a video game that sort of narrative is a shining gem in a pile of gun-metal colored b-movie grade at best story tripe.

The fact that they made Spec-Ops: The Line doesn't mean this one will be good since there are a couple of examples of great developers that falled from grace.
Yet you seem to make your own judgment of quality because of this.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Two things.
1) Being inclusive and diverse isn't automatically controversial, except to people who are vehemently against inclusion and diversity.

I wasn't pointing to the fact that the game being inclusive and diverse was controversial, but their announcement bringing especial attention to it seems to be counting on it.

The fact that they mentioned it is more along the lines that they seem to be scoring brownie points by being visibly progressive. That's not unusual, it's also something we should expect when having characters representative of LGBTQ+ people is something that doesn't happen much. Also including cultural diversity, is something quite unusual too, as generally non-Americanized culture is presented as a stereotype of people you're supposed to shoot in games.

At worst they're making a statement, not relying on controversy to drive sales, if it were a reliance on controversy they'd be making another Postal, or Dead or Alive: Extreme type game. You know something that intentionally plays to the negative stereotypes held against the gaming community, not something that plays against those negative stereotypes. The only controversy this is gonna cause is amongst the usual suspects, on the internet, who always pitch a fit when there is inclusion of transgender, gay, or non-stereotypical non-white characters. If they wanted pure controversy driven sales the game would play to the sort of factors that "trigger" gamers to buy a game, that is being like Grand Theft Auto, Dead or Alive: Extreme and other games that the mainstream media is likely to harp on. As in games that play to the sexy stereotypes, or stereotypes about gamers being murdering psychopaths.

2) The game isn't even out yet, so making a judgment on it's quality when it's in such early stages of development sounds more like stating one's political position, than as any measure of quality on the game's or developer's part.

Also keep in mind that these are people who helped make Spec-Ops: The Line, which from a narrative standpoint would make a movie that could sweep awards for best film... As a video game that sort of narrative is a shining gem in a pile of gun-metal colored b-movie grade at best story tripe.

The fact that they made Spec-Ops: The Line doesn't mean this one will be good since there are a couple of examples of great developers that falled from grace.
Yet you seem to make your own judgment of quality because of this.

Generally speaking, it's developers who patently sell out to major publishers, or who chase sequels, who experience these types of "falls from grace". Mean those who focus on milking cash cows rather than attempting to do things they want to do, while doing them well. That's not the behavior of people who go independent from a big name studio, unless they're already known game making celebrities, like John Romero, Peter Molyneux, Phil Fish, or Tim Schafer. Yet even in those cases, these game developer rock stars often manage to redeem themselves to an extent.

I'm not the one saying the game is going to succeed, or fail, before we even get a good look at the game play. All I'm saying is that because it seems new, different, and is taking risks, I personally hope it does well. Considering the history of the people involved, paired with the fact that they went independent to pursue a vision and take risks, that's generally where we find some of the best games. That means that I'm hopeful for the game, I'm not declaring it bad before anyone even has a chance to play it. Where as there are people who are going to declare it failure before it's even finished, because it makes social, cultural, moral, and political statements that they disagree with.

 

[Dragonlayer]

First off: wait what!? Dead Island 2 was cancelled!?

Secondly: In regards to this game, eeeeeeeh.

At first, I was drawn in by the rather fetching art piece of the alt-history US flag crossed with the Red Star, reminding me of Ironstorm: World War Zero, and the concept of a Cold War that never ended does intrigue me. But from the sound of the description, and the look of the screenshots, this looks like it will focus more on introspective counter-culture responses to the ever present threat of nuclear annihilation. Which can be interesting, don't get me wrong, but I'd rather play an updated and more in-depth version of Ironstorm.

Still, Spec Ops was fantastic so I'm not cutting myself off entirely from this one.